ASSISTANT Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Anne Ruston gathered a number of interesting insights into Vietnamese agriculture during her time in the developing country last week.
While many Australians see Vietnam as a growing tourist destination, Senator Ruston said agriculture also presented an expanding opportunity for co-operation and development.
She said labour was the most obvious difference between Australian and Vietnamese agricultural production, with most of the work done manually in Vietnam, on small scale farms.
“You walk into any field or any production facility and you’re talking about a highly labour intensive process, whereas of course in Australia, out in the field or the processing operations, it’s highly mechanised,” she said.
“Technology allows us a great level of precision and the farm sizes of course in Vietnam are much smaller.
“There are a few big Australian operations in Vietnam - SunRice is there in a really big way and some other co-investments like InterFlour.
“When we say big, we’re talking ‘really big’ but there are mostly small farmers and one of the challenges Vietnam faces over the next little while as they seek to be more productive and more profitable is how do you do it, while also keeping a lot of small farmers involved in the process, while also taking up those broad scale farms.”
Asked whether being a communist country hindered potential Australian agribusiness investments, Senator Ruston said Vietnam also had its differences with doing business like any other country that must be followed.
“Obviously every country is different and Vietnam is no different in that respect and there is a different way of doing business here,” she said.
“If you’re seeking to invest in a regional or rural community you have to deal with the People’s Committee who are the representatives of the people.
“Like anybody who is going to invest in a foreign country you need to understand the lay of the land but I don’t think it necessarily means that it’s a negative - it’s just something that needs to be taken into account when you’re investing in these types of economies.
“But they do seem very, very open to more of a market approach, to how they’re doing business and they’re keen for their farmers and their people to aspire to a higher standard of living and better wages and conditions which all fits in well with what Australia sees that they want to invest in.
“Building relationships with people makes life easier when you want to move to the next stage of development.”
Senator Ruston said Vietnam also had a “real desire” develop its horticultural sector.
“They’re trying to differentiate or diversify out of largely rice and into things they think they can get better value for,” she said.
“They’re very, very proud of a lot of their exotic fruits over here which they’re seeking to commercialise and they’ve also got the equivalent of our HIA (Horticulture Innovation Australia) - the Southern Fruit Research Institute - where they’re trying to develop varieties that are more commercial.”
Senator Ruston visited the Institute during her visit to Vietnam last week and said she tried a variety of mango which was “quite extraordinary”.
“They’re very keen to develop their agricultural industries and they’re looking to Australia particularly to provide assistance in skilling them up and providing technology for efficiencies,” she said.
“At the moment the size of their plantations and how they’re managing them doesn’t allow them to be commercial, outside of selling at a local market.”
Senator Ruston said Vietnam was also “very interested in water”.
“One of their biggest challenges isn’t how do you get more water, but how do you deal with the water you already have,” she said.
“Vietnam is very concerned about the Mekong Delta (vast complex water system in southern Vietnam) and rising sea levels so they’re very keen to speak to us about water.
“Water quality is a big issue although it’s not something that’s been raised in an agricultural context.”